TicketsNov. 19, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky.---Notre Dame held Cincinnati to -.057 hitting as the top-seeded and eighth-ranked Fighting Irish rolled into the BIG EAST Tournament finals with a three-game sweep of the Bearcats, 30-20, 30-20, 30-14 on Saturday afternoon.
Notre Dame (26-2) hit just .283 for the match, but finished with 17 team blocks, including 11 by first team all-conference selection Lauren Brewster. Carolyn Cooper blistered the Bearcats for 11 kills on .688 hitting, finishing as the only Irish player in double figure kills.
Cincinnati (19-12) got 10 kills on .368 hitting and six blocks from Jessie Nevitt. The other bright spot for UC came from freshman libero Melissa Zenz as her 12 digs allowed her to break Trish Ladusaw's single season record for digs in a season with 600.
The opening game was close at the outset and a kill by Maria Pongonis actually put UC ahead by a 12-11 count. Things went downhill from there for UC as a 16-6 run pushed the Irish up by a 27-18 count. After a Notre Dame service error stopped a 4-0 run, the Irish set up game point on a block and a Bearcat error. Nevitt kept Cincinnati alive with a kill, but Brewster followed with one of her own to seal Notre Dame's 30-20 game one victory.
Cincinnati got off to a slow start in game two, falling behind by a score of 10-6. UC would rally to score five of the next six to even the count at 11-all. The Bearcats then fell victim to another Notre Dame run, as the Irish scored 10 of the next 13 to take a comfortable 21-14 lead. Down eight at 23-15, Cincinnati tallied four of the next five to draw back to within five. After back-to-back kills by Cooper and Ellen Heintzman, a Notre Dame service error would be Cincinnati's last point of the game as four straight by the Irish closed out their second straight 30-20 victory.
In the final game, Notre Dame jumped out to a 7-1 lead that forced an early Cincinnati timeout. Trailing 9-2, the Bearcats used an 8-5 run to come back to a four-point deficit. Notre Dame answered that spurt with a 5-1 run that forced Cincinnati's second timeout at 19-11. After a Myanna Hellsten kill, Notre Dame scored 10 of the final 14 points of the day to close out the crushing 30-14 victory.
On defense, Notre Dame's Meg Henican finished with a match-best 18 digs, after rolling to 11 in game one alone. Ashley Tarutis and Heintzman each had five blocks, while Lauren Kelbley had four. Pongonis finished with 11 digs for the Bearcats.
The Bearcats still have one regular season contest remaining this year as they will travel to Kentucky next Saturday. The match from Lexington will get underway at 6 p.m.